Ok, didn’t leave today either.
Instead I went to a Roman fortress in a town nearby called Gonio with Simon and Stella, an English couple staying at the hostel. The fortress is quite well-preserved (well, the outer walls are) and impressive.
Solved a problem I had with my on-bike phone charger. Now I’m really ready to set off tomorrow. Thomas, the guy from Munich who I swapped Lonely Planets with is leaving, too. We agree that almost a week of hostel life is more than enough. And by now I really, really want to go and see all the stuff I’ve been reading about so much.
Thomas is hitch-hiking home along the southern Black Sea coast and got inspired by my ‘Kackar Mountains’ book to do some trekking on the way in Turkey.
Had a hair-cut and a shave for 5 lari (less than 2.50 Euros).
Got invited by Lasha to his parents’ place near Lagodekhi (which is located at the other end of Georgia) when I pass through there (approx. 4 weeks from now).
Had a weird evening with the people at the hostel. A 45-year-old American showed up. He almost drove some people crazy with his attitude (“all Germans hate Turkish people”) and was indeed challenging to have around after the first polite where-from/where-to phase (I went to dinner with him…).
I finally prepared photos to upload to the blog but then the Internet died. Yes, the entire Internet.
Anyway, Batumi is a really nice city and I had a lot of fun here. And I can definitely recommend the ‘Batumi Hostel’. It’s small and simple, and the staff/owner are exceptionally friendly.
